Dian
"I can't let you do this." My mother said with a panicked voice from the front seat.
We were parked outside the train station, the doors of the car locked as Naledi tried to convince my mother to let us go. Wednesday came as a shock to both my mother and I, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.
Naledi told us the only place Glen would be willing to tutor me is in the township, my mother freaked out but Naledi told her if I wanted to get the best results Glen would be the guy to go to.
"Look, okay I can't let my baby boy go to a horrid place like that, people get robbed and killed everyday and that could be my son. I'm not going to take those chances." My mother said as she put her key in the ignition.
"Mevrou van Wyk I think you're being a bit dramatic now. If we are late Glen might not want to tutor Dian again. Dian is writing both an IT and EGD practical next week and there's nothing I can do for him. He needs someone who actually knows what's going on in both subjects and unfortunately, I'm not one of those people." Naledi said exasperated.
She took the key out and sighed, she turned to look me in the eyes for the first time in days. "Wat dink jy?"[what do you think?]
I looked at her for a second trying to think of a simple appropriate answer but what was on the tip of my tongue had nothing to do with the conversation being had, so I turned to Naledi. "Will I be safe?"
"Yes, yes you will. Look we have a few minutes before the train gets here and if we have to wait for the next one we'll be an hour late and I promise you, Glen will not tutor you." She said, looking at her watch.
I nodded and prepared to leave. "Where's your laptop?" Naledi asked.
I showed her the black laptop bag where I had stored my laptop.
"Are you trying to get robbed on purpose?!" She asked me a bit annoyed. She unzipped the bag and took out the laptop and put it in her school bag.
"Oh my God! You are not going, my baby is going to get robbed! Let me take you." My mother protested.
"Okay, look I've had enough of this! You can't drive us there because you're going to draw too much attention to us. I'm not saying every rich white person who goes into the township gets robbed but I don't want to take any chances. The train is going to be here in a few minutes. So, Dian, are you coming or not?" She had explained this reason to my mother countless times but my mother is refusing to accept Naledi's answer and she was beginning to get annoyed.
I nodded and reached to the drivers side and unlocked all the doors so we could leave.
We stepped out the car and made our way into the station. Naledi had to buy me a ticket even though she thought the people who check tickets wouldn't be there. As we started to ascend the stairs I saw people on a certain train platform standing up and peaking at the railway. Naledi saw this too and cursed underneath her breath." Shit."
She grabbed my hand and we ran towards the platform after ascending and descending several steps, that's when the yellow metrorail train came into view it was already on the platform and tons of people were pilling into the train pushing and shoving one another. I thought about waiting until everyone got in but Naledi had a different plan.
Not letting go of my hand we ran straight to the furthest part of the train with the least amount of people. She pushed past the people trying to get in through the train doors, tightening the grip she had on my hand so I wouldn't get lost in the sea of people. The second my feet made it onto the train, it shook jerking people backwards and forwards causing people to bump into one another. Other people tried to get on the train even though it was already moving.

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Scattered Stars
Fiksi RemajaWINNER OF THE AFRICAN AWARDS 2019 South African teenager Naledi Tau is a young girl that deserves to be admired by many being the oldest of three kids after her brother is killed, she focuses on her school work and strives to excel in everything she...